18 I Am Ready

(From Blue's Perspective)

Evelyn's words rang in my ears long after she was gone. Was Demetrius truly frightening? He kind of gave me that vibe, but I was not sure. He never behaved scarily with me. But then I remembered the way he twisted Draven's arm. It was kind of scary.

I did not even notice when I fell asleep. I felt exhausted for some reason. I woke up feeling warm breath on my face.

"What the..."

"Shh. You can still sleep for half an hour more," he said, pressing his index finger on my lips.

"What're you doing here?" I asked.

"Can't I come to my bride? I've finished my work already. I have come to see how you're doing and found you sleeping. I could not walk away from taking advantage."

"What advantage?"

"Watching the blissful sight of someone sleeping," he replied and I blushed. I could not bring myself to look up at him. It was getting harder for me to resist the temptation of doing something.

"Are you shy, my bride?" he chuckled amusingly.

"N-No," I muttered, looking away from him. His face was very close to mine, his warm breath on my face made me want to bury my face somewhere so he would not be able to see what a mess I was at the moment.

"My bride lies too, I see," he said and stroked my cheek with his fingers. He was so close to me... I could not think straight.

"Should I get ready now?" I asked, trying to get away from him or I might lose my mind completely.

"I'll send the maids then. But we can still wait two more minutes," he said, smirking and I could not help but wonder what kind of thought was running in his mind.

"Why?" I asked.

"I don't need a reason to spend time with my bride."

"I should get ready, De-Demetrius."

"As you wish," he said, chuckling, "my bride."

He got up and went towards the door. Before leaving, he gave me an enchanting smile that I could not get my mind off. What was he doing to me?

Not long after he left, three maids entered with their hands full of various things which I did not care to look at. I was thinking of what was going to happen tonight now that he was going to introduce me to everyone. I just wished I was not going to make a fool of myself.

"My lady, please come with us," one of them said.

"Why?" I asked.

"For bath, my lady," she replied.

I noticed that she had black hair, as dark as coal. She was holding a white towel in her hand. "I've bathed this morning."

"It's the rule, my lady, to take a bath before getting ready for important events," she said calmly.

Important event? Was tonight an important event? He was just going to introduce me. Was it too important?

"Alright then," I said and followed them into the bathroom. They removed the dress I was wearing though I was embarrassed. But they did not seem to care. As I sat in the water, they scrubbed my skin lightly which was comfortable in a way, but I preferred doing it myself. Thinking that Demetrius might get angry, I did not object.

"My lady, can I ask you something?" the silver-haired girl asked.

"Yes," I said.

"My lady, where did you and his majesty meet?" she asked.

"Are you asking me this because I'm a human?" I asked.

"No offense, my lady," she said quickly.

"No, it's alright. Actually, Demetrius chose me as his bride. I didn't know him," I replied. I decided not to tell too much thing. Demetrius might not want me to tell too many things and besides, it was better if people did not know such things. The less they knew, the fewer questions there would be.

"That means his majesty proposed to you, my lady?" she asked, enthusiastically.

Of course, he did not propose to me. He just brought me here without even asking me to be his bride. He said that he wanted me as his bride and if I tried to run away, he would catch me anyway. But I could not just tell them that. He was the king after all. I could not badmouth him. Or he might punish me.

"Kind of like that," I said, managing a smile.

They did not ask me anything else. It seemed like they wanted to ask me, but feared for some reason. No wonder they feared Demetrius a lot and thought that I would tell him if they asked me something about him.

"Do you all fear Demetrius a lot?" I asked.

"His Majesty is someone who doesn't forgive if someone breaks the rule and his orders. He is a powerful king and his reputation is well known in all the kingdoms. He certainly is tough, but a very strong king. We all respect him a lot," she said.

She talked very carefully as if not letting a bad word against him slip. So this was how they had to talk about their king. I wondered if I would be able to talk like this as well. I did not have any practice talking in this manner, but perhaps I needed to learn as soon as possible. I could not think of what he would do if I offended him.

After the bath, they helped me wrap up in a towel. They did not soak my hair saying that I needed to have my hair combed nicely.

"His Majesty chose this for you himself, my lady," the black-haired girl said, grinning.

It was a bright red dress with a sweetheart neckline. There were little diamonds on the front part of the dress. The upper part of the dress was made of lace creating a magnificent design that would attract anyone with good taste. The dress was very long along with a fluffy downer part.

"It's... It's too expensive," I muttered.

They looked at me as if I had said something wrong. But I truly could not think of wearing this dress. It was way too expensive. I could not just waste his money, could I?

"His Majesty brought this, my lady. And you're our future queen. You have all the rights to wear this and any expensive things," the red-haired girl said.

"I guess so," I mumbled though I still did not feel that it was right to wear it. I was going to talk to Demetrius about it.

"How do you know that I'm your future queen? I'm not officially introduced yet," I said.

"Words travel fast, my lady," she said.

She was right. It was a kingdom after all. If something happened, everyone would find out sooner or later.

"I don't know any of your names yet," I said.

"I am Brenna, my lady," the black-haired girl said. "This is Ruby and that is Arianell, my lady."

Their names were easy to remember as they were associated with their appearance. I wondered if everyone here was named like that.

They helped me put on the dress. The dress was heavy and it was a bit hard to move in with it. But the fabric was comfortable and for some reason, it did not make me sweat though I was worried about how to walk with it on.

"Wear this cape, my lady. It will make you look even more beautiful," Ruby, the red-haired girl said.

I did not notice the cape before. It was beautiful, even the word beautiful was not enough to describe its beauty. It was laced in the part of the neck. It was very long that it touched the ground behind me like a silky wave of red flag pressed against my back like a protective shield.

They did not let me look into the mirror before they were finished preparing me. They applied those makeups that I saw on the dressing table earlier with utter skill. Arianell put my hair in a side bun with a braid going from the side to the back into the bun.

"My lady, you look lovely," Brenna exclaimed.

I looked into the mirror to see if she was right. The sight I saw was not something I was familiar with. I had never worn something so beautiful and I was not sure if the dress was something for someone like me to wear. I looked different. I did not care how I looked. All I cared about was how his reaction was going to be. What if I looked too bad and he would not like it and decide to punish me? He said he was not going to hurt me, but living with a family like mine, I developed the fear of being punished for everything and I was not sure if it would go away any time soon.

"His Majesty wants us to inform him when you're ready, my lady," Brenna said.

"I am ready."